Mannheim at the Rhine

We visited Mannheim before.

This time we went to see the banks of the Rhine River, the impressive Konrad Adenauer bridge, the water tower and the Bertha Benz Memorial. Bertha Benz was the first Human

-to ride successfully a long distance in a car,

-filling up gasoline in a pharmacy, (first gas station worldwide, Wiesloch at Heidelberg)

-and taking along passengers on the ride. Her two sons who helped. Her husband Carl did not know about her trip before she started.

Some rumors were spread that the most difficult stages were driven by the young sons.

The castle in Mannheim was a main residence of the Wittelsbacher in Palatina. Before Elector Karl Theodor 1777 inherited Bavaria after the Bavarian Branch (male bloodline) became extinct. As the Wittelsbacher Dynasti before had two electors (Pfalz and Bayern), the period of 8 electors ended and one vote became obsolete.

Mannheim was an important place for art and theatre. (Schiller, Voltaire, Mozart)

We enjoyed the water fountains at the water-tower.

Plannings for fountains in Mannheim took centuries and even after they had been built in the 19’the century there was no water to start the water-show for decades. Count Rumford was deployed too. An example for many later projects in Germany. The lack of water was a good reason for the rulers to leave the town in summer, which often turned out to be a big stink. So, they moved to Schwetzingen in summer.

We went by train, which was the usual mess with delays. On the way back in one of our Bullet Trains (ICE) near Ulm we ordered Currywurscht with Frensh Fries the Fries were not available. So, we got some bread instead. Later we ordered Cinamon Rolls but they were not available as well. We were lucky as we could catch the earlier delayed train from Mannheim and did not have to wait for our own delayed train.